Lean Manufacturing Consultancy
Early approaches to lean manufacturing concentrated on the identification and then steady elimination of waste using continuous improvement processes such as Kaizen. Such waste reduction generally shortened lead-times and reduced costs whilst leading to tangible quality improvements.
As the Lean philosophy gained wider acclaim there was further focus on ‘process flow' and techniques such as ‘pulling work through', using Kanban, became popular. By smoothing flow, quality issues are exposed and this in turn leads to a wider understanding of the system under review. It is in this area where Lean and Six Sigma become linked due to the latter's emphasis on the reduction of variation in processes.
Based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), The Consultancy Company's approach to lean manufacturing focuses on flow in a manner that is technically robust and capable of deploying the full range of Lean and Six Sigma techniques. These include process and value stream mapping, 5S (sort, set locations/limits, shine and sweep, standardise and sustain), tact time and SMED (single minute exchange of die). We also follow the DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve and control) methodology for Six Sigma to ensure process output is aligned with customer expectations.
In order to achieve sustainable cultural and continuous improvements, we look to secure effective and incremental change based on demonstrating that the approach works in one area before moving onto the wider system. This allows the concepts of lean thinking to be introduced to a business in a low risk way.
For a fuller description of our lean manufacturing consultancy techniques click here.
